Exclusive Review of the Celestron CPC 800 XLT Telescope by Ben Hauck - OPT May 18th, 2005

The excitement began when OPT received a phone call from Celestron telling us that they would be traveling from Torrance to Oceanside with one of their newest products to hit the market. This new product was the highly anticipated CPC 800 telescope, a fully computerized 8 SCT telescope with new hardware, brilliant new software and a very enticing price tag. The CPC 800 is part of an exciting new line of telescopes that will include an 8, a 9.25 and an 11 model. The 8 model, the CPC 800, is beginning to ship from Celestron now while the CPC 925 and the CPC 1100 will begin shipping in August. We were honored to have four members of the Celestron team bring the CPC 800 down for a test drive. Rick Hedrick, Victor Aniceto, Lance Lucero and Jason Fournier arrived at OPT at approximately 7:00pm and setup the CPC 800 inside the showroom so we could check out the scope under the lights.

After the sun set over the ocean and the skies darkened, we took the telescope out to our parking lot to test out the new Sky Align software and to do some basic imaging. In the review below I will discuss everything from the hardware to the software, from the tripod to the finder scope, from top to bottom and from inside to out. I will begin with a review of the hardware and will

then move to the software and our test run with the telescope under the night sky. Finally I will discuss our imaging session with the CPC 800 and wrap up with our overall thoughts on the telescope.

The Hardware
Tripod - Beginning at the bottom of the telescope and moving up, we first inspected the tripod. The tripod included with the CPC 800 is a heavy duty, adjustable height tripod made with high quality steel legs. The tripod weighed in at approximately 19 lbs and was definitely sturdy enough to support the weight of the telescope.

One of the best new features on the tripod is a new mounting system that OPT has unofficially named the Instalock system. There is a center pin on the tripod and a center hole on the bottom of the telescope that allows you to get the telescope positioned properly over the tripod. In addition, there are indentations on the tripod and protuberances on the bottom of the telescope at the three points where the telescope bolts onto the tripod. All you have to do is set the telescope down on the center pin and then rotate the base until it clicks into place. You then use the three captive, spring loaded thumb screws to attach the telescope to the tripod. The great thing about the captive screws is that you will never lose them in the dark, having to dig around in the dirt with a red flashlight as your only friend. They stay attached to the tripod at all times. Simple, yet very smart! Another smart feature on the new tripod is a built-in bubble level on the top plate of the tripod. This allows you to level out the tripod before you mount the telescope. This is another example of a simple addition that can make life much easier for the amateur astronomer. One improvement over the old Celestron tripod is a new spreader bar that is significantly thicker and more substantial than the previous. The spreader bar is dual-purpose, also serving as an accessory tray with three 1.25 slots for eyepieces, barlows or other accessories. It not only has the standard indentations for use as a spreader bar, it also has indentations for when you are transporting the tripod. Celestron also built in a strap with a buckle that will allow the user to secure the legs for transport and carrying. For transport all you have to do is loosen the spreader bar knob, rotate the spreader bar, fold down the legs and buckle the strap. You now have a nice portable package that is easy to carry and transport. The new tripod will accept the current heavy duty wedge. There may also be a new Celestron wedge sometime in the future, but this is simply conjecture on our part at this time. Base and Fork Arms - The base and fork arms have some of the basic familiar looks of a fork mounted telescope, but there are some notable differences as well. One of the most distinguishable features of the CPC series of telescopes is the metallic silver base. This base has a very wide diameter, housing a large azimuth bearing measuring a full 9.8 inches. Inside the base you will find over 100 ball bearings along the rotational axis that allows the telescope to rotate in a very smooth motion. The azimuth gear housed

within the base is a 5.625 hard anodized, 180 tooth gear coupled to a brass worm gear that provides smooth slewing and accurate tracking for both visual and photographic applications. The CPC 800 sports some new hand clutch locks in altitude and azimuth that allow you to get a solid grip, even in the cold with thick gloves on! The azimuth lock is now located on the top center of the base for easy access and the altitude lock is located on the right fork arm.

For lifting, carrying and setting up the telescope, Celestron has incorporated their intelligently designed handle system originally incorporated into the Nexstar GPS series. There is an indentation with a hand grip underneath the left fork arm, and a solid, oversized handle on the right fork arm. When you lift the telescope you get a very good grip on the scope that makes it feel even lighter than its 42 pounds. The distribution of the weight is balanced, so there is very little stress on your back and on your arms. The fork arms are made of solid aluminum with molded plastic covers; effectively combining these two materials to maximize rigidity while retaining a low overall weight.

Another simple yet smart feature is the new hand controller holder. The telescope comes with a bracket that holds the controller slightly away from the left fork arm. It is in perfect position to center stars and choose objects without having to hold onto the controller. There is a slot on the left fork arm where you can simply slide the bracket up and out of the fork arm without having to use bolts, screws or hardware. It also may negate having to make a separate Velcro purchase to attach the controller to the tripod! Nexstar Controller - The Nexstar controller is very similar in its user interface to that of the prior Nexstar controllers, yet there have been a few changes. One of the most exciting changes is the move to a flash upgradeable controller. This will give the user the ability to upgrade the software, download information and more via an RS232 connection port. There are, of course, tons of new software features including the Sky Align technology, but that will be discussed in a later section. Accessories - The accessories are for the most part standard; 40mm Plossl Eyepiece, 1.25 Star Diagonal, 9x50 finderscope and bracket, 1.25 Visual Back adapter and a 12v DC car battery adapter. One accessory that has been redone is the finder bracket. The bracket is now a quick release bracket, which saves having to pull out tools every time you want to pack up the scope or set it up. The quick release bracket also uses an easy system for alignment. It has one adjustment screw that is spring loaded to put continuous pressure on the finder. There are then two threaded screws for the X and Y axis that allow the user to simply align the finder.

Optics - Celestron has always been well known for their top quality optics and this telescope is no exception. We did not have much in terms of seeing conditions during the test run. The combination of high clouds, light pollution, flash photography, headlights, vibration from Mission Avenue, a first quarter moon and mediocre stability made it difficult to do much of an optical test, but complications not withstanding, the telescope performed very well. The optics are still being made right up the road in Torrance, California, from the primary to the secondary to the corrector plate.

The Software One of the most highly anticipated features of the new CPC series of telescopes is the new Sky Align technology. This new technology was designed after outside influences forced Celestron to discontinue use of their North and Level alignment procedure. The basic concept of the alignment procedure is based on calculating the angles between objects in the night sky. When you choose three objects in the night sky, the Sky Align calculates the angle between two of the objects chosen and then compares those angles of separation to the known angles in the hand controller database. The third object is used to positively identify the two objects chosen. Sound confusing? While the science behind the technology may require an advanced degree in trigonometry, using the telescope absolutely does not. Aligning the telescope does not require knowledge of astronomy, or even knowing what is what in the night sky. You can align the telescope without even knowing what the Moon is! I have not met anybody who does not know what the Moon is, but if you are out there, you can still align the CPC telescopes! So the theory sounds great, but how did it work during the test drive? Perfectly. We took the telescope out in our parking lot, leveled out the tripod and then attached the telescope to the tripod with the "Instalock system. We aligned the finderscope to the telescope, attached the diagonal and the 40mm eyepiece, plugged in the DC adapter and within five minutes we were ready to rock and roll. The internal 16 channel GPS unit automatically captured the date, time and observing location. We then had the option to choose from a variety of alignment procedures, including Sky Align, Auto Two-Star Align, One-Star Align, EQ Align or Solar System Align. We chose the Sky Align method and the telescopes asked us to point the telescope to a bright object. You can move the telescope manually to the first object, so we unlocked the altitude and azimuth clutches and moved the telescope over to a bright object in the northwestern area of the sky. We centered it in the 40mm eyepiece and pushed align on the controller. We then slewed to the next object using the hand controller, centered it and pressed align. We then slewed to the third object, a bright star in the southeastern area of the sky. Once again we centered it in the 40mm and pressed align.

The telescope took about 20 seconds as it searched for matches in its database. Our alignment was successful, and the controller gave us the option to check what objects we had chosen. The first object was the star Procyon, the second object was the Moon and the third object was Arcturus. We decided to test the alignment by having the telescope slew to Jupiter. It hit Jupiter DEAD center in the 40mm eyepiece. Not center third of the field of view, not close to center, DEAD center. We were all amazed. We decided to try the alignment again, this time using Arcturus, Jupiter and the Moon. This time we purposefully did not center the moon perfectly, so we could see how well the Sky Align handled the inaccuracy. After the alignment, we sent the telescope over to Saturn and, while it was in the field of view, if was a little off-centered. We centered Saturn in the field of view and then pressed align to replace one of the initial alignment objects. Knowing that we did not center the Moon perfectly, we replaced the Moon with Saturn and then headed back to Jupiter. Dead center once again. Sky Align works. It is amazingly simple and incredibly accurate. Celestron research and development has come up with a winner here. Imaging Session Although the conditions were significantly less than stellar, we decided to test out the overall stability and tracking accuracy of the CPC 800 by taking a few CCD images using an SBIG ST10XME.

The image below was taken with the CPC800 in polar mode on the Celestron heavy duty wedge. The image is comprised of eight, thirty second exposures. There was absolutely zero image processing done, but as you can see the telescope captured M104 and tracked very accurately. Keep in mind that we were under less than ideal conditions, and this had a major effect on the image quality. Just imagine what could be done under good conditions with the CPC 800 telescope!

The images below were taken through the CPC 800 in alt-az with the basic Sky Align alignment procedure used. The images were taken with the Celestron NexImage and a 2x Barlow. There was very little processing done on these images and the viewing conditions were very average.

Conclusion As you may infer from reading this review, we were very impressed with the CPC 800 telescope and the Sky Align technology. The telescope is extremely easy to setup and use, it features high quality Celestron optics made here in the USA and the prices are very reasonable. The CPC 800 XLT telescopes are now in stock here at OPT for the low price of $1999. Please call us or send an e-mail if you have any questions or would like to be one of the first on the block to own the CPC 800! We would like to thank Rick, Victor, Lance, Jason and the rest of the Celestron crew for taking the time to visit OPT with their new CPC 800 telescope!

From Left to Right: Lance Lucero, a Polar CPC 800, Victor Aniceto, Mike Fowler, Ben Hauck, Chriss Hoffman, Rick Hedrick, Craig Weatherwax, Jason Fournier, and the Alt-Az CPC 800!